


cause you were all yellow

by starryJ



Series: colors [1]
Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, brian is yellow, jae is Stupid, jae sees people as colors, mentions of the pink sweater, music major!brian, sungjin is an amazing bro, sungjin is emerald
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 12:32:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17622461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starryJ/pseuds/starryJ
Summary: “i haven’t told him about colors,” jae carefully starts one night before going to bed. sungjin just stops and looks at him, letting him know that he is listening. “i’m afraid that once he finds out about this, it’ll be over. i lied to him and said that my favorite color was green, but it’s not. what should i do now, sungjin?”“tell him the truth?” he suggests, but jae only shakes his head and laughs, and it’s all sad.(alt: jae can see people as colors and falls for brian, who is yellow. he tries to hide his feelings, and brian doesn't know about it. until he does.)





	cause you were all yellow

**Author's Note:**

> this is mostly inspired by my personal experience, because i often associate people (sometimes songs) with colors too. these colors is how i see jae, brian and sungjin.
> 
> the story was born thanks to my lovely soulmate zen, when i told her about it for the n-th time in a month. thank you so much for inspiring and encouraging me, for supporting me and staying by my side. thank you for dealing with me and my 24/7 jae soft hours. sing me, and i will always be there to sing you. 
> 
> special thanks to jae for being my biggest inspiration and my brightest star during the darkest days. can't believe i got to see you that close and personally thank you for everything. i will never forget our interaction, my purple sky full of stars. thank you. 
> 
> thank you - for giving this story a chance. please, leave comments and kudos, it'll be much appreciated. hope you enjoy it as much as i enjoyed writing it. please note that english is not my first language.

jae doesn’t know when exactly this thing happened to him. he only remembers that he was a kid, maybe six or seven years old, when he came back from the garden where his sister was doing homework with two of her friends and asked his mother if it was okay to see colors. his mother was genuinely confused at first, so he did his best to explain how he saw her in the warmest shades of bronze and how his sister looked like azure to him. it took some time for this weird talent to get accepted, but in the end all of his friends became familiar with that and each of them knew which color they reminded jae of. he didn’t have many friends, though, so when he graduated from school he only had wonpil and sungjin by his side. he didn’t mind that, because seeing colors had its own disadvantage (or was that actually an advantage?): he felt that some people won’t be his friends for more than a few months, he just saw their colors and the realization of that hit him immediately. 

now jae is twenty two, he studies in college and has a tiny apartment, which he shares with sungjin. park sungjin has been with him through everything, he was a great friend (jae couldn’t have asked for a better one) and he was emerald, so jae knew from the very beginning of their friendship that he was worth all the trust and that he would always be loyal and caring. truth to be told, he could also be a pain in the neck, but doesn’t emerald give you such warning when you see it for the first time? 

all in all, dealing with sungjin was difficult, but it was always worth it. he was jae’s biggest supporter and listener, helped him accept himself when jae realized he was bisexual and had a thing for musicians, didn’t make fun of him when one night he came back from a party and cried on his shoulder because “that sand-like boy has rejected me” and he never ever found the colors thing weird. he was surprised when jae told him about it, but only asked if being emerald was a good thing and that was it. 

they don’t talk about it much – jae tries to keep his thoughts to himself, because he’s fully used to it now, and sungjin doesn’t want to bring up something he doesn’t completely understand. sometimes they discuss it, though. when sungjin broke up with his girlfriend, he asked jae what color she was to him and then said that now he understands. to jae the girl was orange and he knew that dating her would be sungjin’s mistake, but never said anything because he was just a friend with a weird talent, not a witch or a prophet. the other time was when sungjin asked what color jae was himself, to which jae didn’t have an answer. he thought about it a lot and did it quite often, but never actually got to understand it: he could see everyone’s color, could feel if they’d remain a part of life for a long time or not, could even say if people were meant to be together, but couldn’t see his own color. not that it bothered him that much, though, because he was sure one day the mystery would be solved. 

they don’t talk about it much, so when on one particularly rainy wednesday jae comes back grumpier than usually and practically slams the door behind him, sungjin is taken aback. 

“jae? is everything okay?” he asks from where he’s trying to make a decent dinner for them. keyword – trying, because he’s not much of a genius, but at least his food is not ramyun and is edible.

jae keeps quiet for a few minutes, but sungjin is waiting patiently, so he sighs and goes to the kitchen to be met with a curious, yet a very concerned gaze. “what would i do without him,” he catches himself thinking, but then becomes serious again.

“come on, talk to me,” sungjin lightly shakes his shoulder in order to get any response.

“brian kang is yellow. disgustingly, annoyingly _yellow_ ,” is all jae can say before he looks away, feeling angry. 

“brian? that music major, who wins every competition, but acts like nothing ever happened?” 

jae nods, because he doesn’t really trust his voice. not now, at least. 

“he is yellow, so what?” but sungjin keeps asking questions and he is really confused, so jae doesn’t have much of a choice.

“my favorite color is yellow. but not- not _this_ yellow. and i haven’t met many yellow people in this life, it’s a pretty rare thing. also i… might have yelled at him for no reason. and then ran away. i’m so embarrassed, sungjin, what should i do? i just… i freaked out when i saw him,” jae is rambling now and sungjin can see it in his eyes how desperate he is, so he just pulls him in for a hug and shushes him.

“it’s okay. it’s brian, after all, and he’s yellow. i heard from dowoon that he’s a sweet guy, so i don’t think he’ll even remember it by tomorrow. but you should apologize like a good person you are.”

“i might have fallen for him, sungjin. and look at me – already fucked everything up. i mean, seriously, when i saw him and his yellow aura, i felt that he’s going to ruin my life, but in a good way, you know? i don’t even have his number and i won’t be able to apologize in person, you know me,” jae starts biting his lips, a nervous habit of his, and sungjin frowns at the sight and the words he’s just heard.

just by looking at his face jae can surely say that he’s up to something. and he’s not wrong.

“i’ll get you his phone number,” he promises, voice soft, but sure. 

jae grins at that. _emerald is great._

//// 

 **jje** : uhh hello there? i’m jae park, literature major. we met today during lunch break and i was acting like a bastard, yelled at you when you did literally nothing. i guess you’ve already forgotten that, but i can’t let this go so easily, so… i’m really sorry for that. i didn’t mean it. hope you understand. 

 **brian kang** : ah it’s all good! no offence 

 **brian kang** : we all have bad days

 **brian kang** : glad you texted me, though. 

after that, things change. after that, jae is seeing yellow more often than not and he finds himself falling for brian even harder. 

they click together surprisingly well, like long lost twins or pieces of a beautiful, yet tricky puzzle. they spend hours chatting and talking over the phone, discussing everything from jae’s essays and brian’s projects to the purpose of life and things like happiness. being friends with brian is amazing: he is everything people say about him, yet there’s a lot more and jae never gets tired of discovering little details that he adores so much, like his little moles here and there or the way he laughs when jae jokingly insults wonpil and his pink sweater (which he bought after jae told him about his color and jae refused to consider him a friend ever since).

being friends with brian is great, but as time passes, jae finds it more and more difficult to hide his feelings and keep the distance, because he wants to hug brian or hold his hand, he wants to kiss away the pout from his lips when the younger struggles with playing a melody or writing lyrics. having a thing for musicians doesn’t help either, because jae would gladly spend the rest of his life in the corner of their college practice room silently watching how brian plays the guitar and sings in his powerful, yet soft and incredibly warm voice. 

sungjin, of course it’s always him, is the first to notice how much his friend suffers. he doesn’t press and never tries to talk about it, because he knows jae is not ready to open up, but makes sure jae knows he is there for him, that he will do anything to lessen his pain. 

“i haven’t told him about colors,” jae carefully starts one night before going to bed. sungjin just stops and looks at him, letting him know that he is listening. “i’m afraid that once he finds out about this, it’ll be over. i lied to him and said that my favorite color was green, but it’s not. what should i do now, sungjin?”

“tell him the truth?” he suggests, but jae only shakes his head and laughs, and it’s all sad. 

“i don’t want to lose him, which is why i can’t tell him the truth. but i am so tired of these endless lies, so tired of pretending that i don’t like him that way, that we’re biggest bros in the world… i don’t know, just wanted to get it off my chest, sorry.”

“it’s okay, that’s what friends are for. but it hurts to see your pain and i’m sure at this rate brian will notice it soon too. you better do something about it, you know, before it’s too late,” sungjin gives him a reassuring smile before disappearing under his blankets. “good night, don’t stay up too late.”

“okay, i won’t.”

but in the end, he does, because all he can think about is losing brian. 

he definitely needs to do something, tell him the truth or just talk to him and explain himself – anything, before brian hears about it from someone else. 

“before it’s too late,” he repeats quietly in the darkness before finally dozing off.

he doesn’t get the chance to fix it, though. 

////

 **bribri** : hyung

 **bribri** : r u busy rn?

 **jje** : no, why? 

 **bribri** : i think we should talk

jae feels that his hands are starting to shake and finds it difficult to breathe. he stares at the message for a few minutes, hoping it will vanish or change to something more positive, but it’s still here and brian doesn’t add anything, just waits for a reply. “this is it, this is how i am going to lose him,” he thinks before slowly typing and sending a message.

 **jje** : okay

 **jje** : fair enough

 **bribri** : i will pick you up in 20

jae chooses not to answer, instead runs to the bathroom and washes his face with cold water in hopes to stop the nervous blush spreading everywhere. it doesn’t help at all and soon he hears a knock on the door. with a quick glance at the clock – it’s only been ten minutes – he takes a deep breath and goes to let brian in. when he sees him, he gets shocked, to say the least. 

brian looks good in black jeans and with his favorite leather jacket on, but it’s not the outfit that catches jae’s eye, it’s his aura. to jae he was always the annoyingly, yet warm bright yellow and sometimes he shined brighter than the sun, but today… today is totally different. jae’s never seen it, the change of someone’s color, so he stays quiet for a few seconds and keeps looking at brian in disbelief. he’s still yellow, but the color is so pale and unclear now, that it scares jae more than anything, because this, whatever this thing is, is definitely the last warning for him. 

 _“this is how i’m going to lose him,”_ he repeats to himself again as he silently follows brian to the car and puts the seatbelt on. 

at first the ride is silent too, but it’s not the comfortable kind of silence that they are both so used to. it’s awkward and heavy and jae is biting his lips again in order to avoid confessing right here and now. brian is the first to break this silence and when jae looks into his eyes, he sees pain and something else, something that he doesn’t have a name for. 

“why don’t you trust me?” he asks softly as he stops the car somewhere near the park, which is beautiful in summer, but nearly dead in winter. 

the voice is soft and it’s a perfect tone to hide your sadness, but jae can see it in his aura how broken and helpless brian feels right now. he wants to lean in and simply kiss his frown away, but knows he doesn’t have the right to do it, so he just looks at his fingers and awkwardly plays with the hem of his shirt. he doesn’t know what to say. 

“i heard from dowoon, who isn’t even your friend, that you can see colors and that your favorite one is yellow. not green. not red. but yellow. okay, i must admit that at first i laughed at this whole thing and didn’t take it seriously, because it’s something i’ve never heard about and never knew it was possible…”

“that’s exactly-”

“i read about it later and it actually made sense. but i can understand why you would hide this fact, maybe we weren’t that close or something, maybe it was special to you and dowoon just got this information from wonpil, who doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut when it comes to secrets. but why would you lie to me? what else you decided to hide from me, your close friend, as you kept saying? that’s the thing that hurt me the most, hyung. it’s not like i can’t live without knowing which color i remind you of, but this- this is something i can’t deal with. care to explain?” 

brian finishes talking and turns to look at him, waiting for a reply, but not exactly pressing, letting jae choose – the most brian thing ever, - but he is met with the sight of jae crying. hot tears are streaming down his face and he shakes his head when brian reaches to wipe them off. “don’t!” is the only thing he can say before closing his eyes and trying to steady his breath. doesn’t work. 

“hey, jae, jae, look at me, please,” brian is worried now, he puts both hands on jae’s shoulders and looks absolutely lost. scared. defeated, even.

even with his eyes closed jae can see that his yellow aura is getting brighter, but not in the “happy” way. he doesn’t respond, so brian pulls him in for a hug and it’s the tightest hug jae’s ever experienced in his life. 

“breathe, jae, in, out, come on, baby, do that for me,” he doesn’t notice the nickname that accidently slipped from his lips, but jae is suddenly shaken awake at that. _in. out._

“it’s okay now. thank you. and yes, i have an explanation, i just-” he begins, but brian interrupts him and says that he doesn’t have to explain anything now. 

jae looks up from his knees and sees that brian really means it. he doesn’t need an explanation anymore, but jae is willing to give one.

“just listen to me, okay? it’s not easy to say these things.”

“promise,” brian says and goes silent. jae smiles weakly before opening his mouth again. 

“i started seeing colors when i was a kid. when i was fourteen, i realized that i could also use these colors to understand if i like the person or not, if they were going to stay in my life or not, and so on. my favorite color was yellow, it was always yellow, but i have only met two or three people who seemed yellow to me. it’s a rare thing, but i can’t explain it, so i kind of freaked out when i saw you, because you were the brightest yellow i have ever seen. the moment i saw you i felt that you were going to change my life, but i didn’t want that, so i yelled at you and ran away. after that, you know, we became friends and it was amazing, the most beautiful time of my life, but it was so difficult for me, because i…”

he stops for a second and bites his lower lip again. brian frowns at that and places his warm (jae would even say – hot) palm on jae’s hand, a small gesture to tell him that everything is okay. jae blushes a little, before going on:

“because i liked you. from the very first second we met. i’ve always liked you. being your close friend was the best thing i could ever ask for and i didn’t want to lose you. ever. so i decided to keep the colors thing a secret, lied about my favorite color and… that was the only thing i lied about, i swear. you are yellow, bribri, and i like you. i like you so much that i almost ruined everything we had. i’m sorry,” he finally finishes and looks away, because there are tears in his eyes again.

he doesn’t notice how brian’s smile turns hopeful and how his aura gets brighter with each word he hears. he just wants it to be over soon – quick and painless. 

“jaejae?” brian says, voice barely a whisper. jae can’t help but smile at that: this moment feels too good, _too intimate_ to be real. “what color are _you_?”

“i don’t know. i can’t see or feel it. why?”

“too bad, wanted to know if we would match.”

“what do you mean?” jae asks, breathless, and finds the courage to look at him. brian is smirking and jae isn’t sure how he feels about it. 

“come on, jaejae. did you really think i could ever leave you?”

jae frowns. he doesn’t understand.

“okay, let’s make things easier. i’m going to kiss you now. is that okay?” and jae doesn’t completely believe what he hears, so he just nods, looking both lost and happy. 

it is enough for brian to lean in closer and cup jae’s face in his hands, and jae is falling, falling, 

 _falling_.

“i like you too,” he says before closing the distance and kissing him. his movements are slow, yet sure, and his lips taste sweeter than blueberries when jae kisses him back.

the kiss is innocent, there is no hunger or lust – they have all the time for it later, and it’s not electrifying or whatever they say in the books, but it’s soft, it’s warm and it’s everything jae has ever needed. kissing brian is like coming home. 

and at that moment jae sees it for the first time in his life – the deepest shade of purple. he smiles at the thought – how someone as deep and dark as him could be meant for a sun like brian. 

“it’s purple,” he whispers when brian pulls away just enough to kiss his nose. 

“i still don’t understand how it works, but i must say that purple sounds like a perfect color for you, love,” and with that, he leans in for another kiss.

it suddenly starts raining outside and it gets a bit cold in the car, but jae doesn’t mind, not really. 

not when the sun itself is kissing him senseless. 

 

 


End file.
